PSA 10 Gem Mint I don't understand

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Posted By: Kevin 

I have a question for the board that I would love hear opinions about.

What exactly is Gem Mint? If a mint card has no flaws, the definition of mint in pretty much every collecting category, then how can a card be better than that?

The only conclusion that I can come to is that Gem Mint 10 is a made up grade to sucker inventors into paying a huge premium. Any thoughts?

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Posted By: mrc32

I would never pay the huge money for a 10. I can't tell much difference between and 8 and a 9, much less a 10. I care about condition, but don't really care if a card happens to have a flaw or two....remember these are ball players

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Posted By: Hankron

When I first heard someone use the term "Gem Mint," I thought he was making a joke.

Simularly, when I first heard some say that a company was grading/sealing beanie babies I thought that was a joke too.

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Posted By: MW

edited

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Posted By: runscott

to make it more interesting to collect post-1980 cards. Basically, they all look alike other than centering - anything less than mint is worth a penny in most cases...but put one of those "one of 10 gazillion" beauties in a psa 10 holder and watch it's "value" grow!

How many of you would trust a vintage card in a psa 10 holder?

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Posted By: Hankron

Micheal, I wasn't saying that 'Gem Mint' is not a legitimate term, just detailing my initial impression.

Though he is not always taken seriously, I always thought Alan Rosen's definition of Mint was interesting. Rosen's definition (at the time at least) of Mint was that the card was 'as if it had just come from a pack.' As cards don't always come from packs perfectly centered, Rosen didn't have to have perfect centering. If one uses his definition of Mint, there will be different degrees or qualities of Mint.

Personally, I like the word 'perfect.' Perfect is perfect and anything less isn't perfect. To me, perfect has a sublime quality.

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Posted By: Chris

I don't understand why there is a grade above
GEM MINT aka BGS 10 pristine, SGC 100 or even worse
SCD 11 !!! That means that a gem mint card can
be flawed.....ah well.

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Posted By: brian parker

Is there really such a thing as SCD11? If so, where did they get the inspiration to have an 11 on a 1-10 grading scale? Perhaps they have seen the movie Spinal Tap?


Brian

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Posted By: Hankron

In the end, I will let the details of Mint and Gem Mint and Pristine be tackled by those who buy PSA9 or PSA10 cards. I'm not suggesting that there is anything wrong with buying a Gem Mint card, but it's not an area that I aspire to. Perhaps I'm the one who's all wet for rolling his eyes upong hearing someone brag about trying to get a a 1976 Topps set completely PSA or SGC graded, but I don't think so.

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Posted By: MW

David,

I was just teasing about my first comment -- the one about being too hasty.

In general, I think some grading companies have adopted "better than Gem Mint" and "Pristine" grades because a PSA 10 isn't really, well, "Gem Mint." And as long as (modern) cards are flawed, there will always be a higher technical grade. Figuratively speaking, I think PSA set its own "bar" a bit too low.

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Posted By: MW

How many of you would trust a vintage card in a psa 10 holder?

That's a rhetorical question, right?

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Posted By: Marc S.

Brian:

To answer your specific question, I believe that SCD graded one card an SCD 11 -- it was a Jason Giambi rookie card. Not sure what issue that is -- something like 1992 Topps Traded, perhaps?

At any rate, you take a ridiculous grade and mix it in with an "interesting" auctioneer -- and you have the one and only SCD 11 being auctioned off some months back (a year, perhaps?) by none other than Alan Rosen "Mr. Mint"

I think that there is a general misperception at GEM MINT equating to PERFECT. I have never seen a perfect baseball card -- vintage or modern. If you read the grading standards, I believe, for PSA, SGC and BGS, there are always some allowances allowed making "GEM MINT" something less than perfect.

Nonetheless -- I will also say that the greater you magnify a card (Whether through loupe or microscope), the larger you make it, the easier it is to point out its (numerous) flaws.

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Posted By: jay behrens

That is why there needs to be a stand for magnification like in the gem industry. 10x is more than adequate. Beyond that, the flaw is so minute that it doesn't really matter since you can't see it with the najed eye and beyond intial purchace, who really looks at a card with a magnifying glass anyway?

Jay